Scientific Annals, School of Geology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH)

Special volume 98

213-220

Thessaloniki, 2006

THE BAUMANNS CAVE AT RBElANd/HARz, GERMANY, ONE OF THE CAVES NOTEd IN EARlY SCIENCE HISTORY FOR ITS CAVE BEAR ANd CAVE HYENA BONE dEpOSITS
Stephan KEMpE1
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BAUMANNS CAVE
The Baumanns Cave at Rbeland near Elbingerode/Harz is ubiquitous in the early scientific and travel literature (e.g., Kempe 1999; 2000; 2004; Kempe & Reinboth, 2001; Kempe et al., 1999; 2004). It has been open to the public since the end of the 16th century and is the oldest regularly visited and guided show cave. In Baroque times, the Baumanns Cave represented - even though only 150 m long and small compared its presently known extent (fig. 1) - a singular geological object causing wide-spread curiosity. All reports agree that it was discovered by a miner named Baumann, who was searching for iron ore in the Bode Valley in the late 15th century. The cave was originally decorated profusely with speleothems and once contained extensive cave bear bone deposits, mined for medical unicornu fossile. The Baumanns Cave was first mentioned in the middle of the 16th century by Agricola, Matthesius and Gesner (with the first two citations not fully verified as yet) (Kempe, 2004; Kempe et al., 2004). Heinrich Eckstorm wrote the first longer account of the cave in 1589 in Latin (published 1620). His report was cited extensively by later authors, even though Eckstorm used local information and did never visit the cave himself. Johannes Letzner - a contemporary of Eckstorm - also wrote a short account about the cave but based on his own visit to the cave in 1599 (or shortly later). Both Eckstorm and Letzner gave descriptions of the first hall only. In the first half of the 17th century, the Baumanns Cave was mentioned several times in connection with its unicornu fossile deposits. Merian published the first longer descriptions in German in 1650 and 1654. The latter text is also accompanied by three copperplates showing the Bode valley with Rbeland and the entrance of the cave, a detailed picture of the entrance, and a picture of the interior of the first section of the cave, including the Ross (horse) in the background, a large breakdown block that visitors had to straddle to reach the descent to the deeper parts of the cave. This picture is the first of the interior of any cave ever published (fig. 2). In 1656, Olearius, an official of the city of Halle, visited the cave accompanied by the young student Von Alvensleben. Olearius left a manuscript in German (published by Brger, 1929) with a description of the cave and von Alvensleben sketched the ground plan of the cave on two sheets showing sections one and two (fig. 3a,b). These sketch-maps are the first cave maps still preserved world-wide (Stolberg, 1930; Reinboth, 1982; Shaw, 1992; Kempe et al., 2004). Also, in 1656, Horst published a short note on fossil bones from the Unicorn Cave near Scharzfeld mentioning that similar bones have been taken from the Cave at Elbingerode as well, i.e., from the Baumanns Cave. In this note he suggested that the bones were similar to those of bears, lions, and humans, which is the first anatomically correct interpretation of the unicorn bones (Kempe et al., 2005). Kircher (1665) mentioned the cave in his famous Mundus subterraneus also in connection with the fossil bones. In 1666, Lachmund visited the cave and published a short Latin description in his book Oryktographia Hildesheimensis, which appeared 1669. In the same year Praetorius also printed a short account of a cave visit. Towards the end of the century Leibniz visited the cave and wrote about it, its formations and bone deposits. His Latin text was included in the Protogaea, a book published 1749, more than 50 years after his visit.

Prof.

Dr. Stephan Kempe, TU-Darmstadt, Institut fr Angewandte Geowissenschaften, Schnittspahnstr. 9, D-64287 Darmstadt, kempe@geo.tu-darmstadt.de.

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Figure 1. Map of the historical section of the Baumanns Cave and its division into six caves. The locations and historic names of the flowstone figures presented in guided tours are indicated as far as they have been identified. Historically fossil bones have been dug in the first and second section; today, bones are visible only in a corner of the second cave (altered after Kempe et al., 1999).

Figure 2. Merian etching of 1654 showing the interior of the Baumanns Cave with the titel: Der Inwendige theil der Bumans Hhle, mit sehr grossen Stein-Klippen oder Tropfsteine, A Das Rslin uber welches man hinauff und hinunter Rietschen muss, umb in die Tieffste Hhle zu kommen. (The inner part of the Baumanns Cave with very large stone cliffs and flowstones. A: the Horse, across which one has to slide to get to the deepest cave). This figure is the oldest figure depicting the interior of a natural cave published world-wide. The view is into the first section of the historic cave (today named Goethe Saal) from the southwest with the northeast wall removed so that one can look into the cave. The three persons in the foreground have just entered the cave, the two cavers in the background ride up across the big breakdown block named Ross (Horse) to get to the continuation of the cave (today Saal des Hamburger Wappens). The etching was drawn by Conrad Buno by personal instruction of Duke August der Jngere and published in the Merian Topographia Braunschweig-Lneburg. (Original: collection Kempe).

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Figure 3 a,b. The student von Alvensleben drew this sketch after a visit of the Baumanns Cave together with the superintendent Olearius, 1665. The maps are kept today in the state archive in Magdeburg. They are the first preserved maps of a natural cave world-wide. For the translations of the texts see Kempe et al., 2004. (Printed by permit of the Landeshauptarchiv Sachen-Anhalt).

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Figure 4. This map of the Baumanns Cave was published as a copper etching by v. d. Hard in the Acta eruditorum, 1702. The map is oriented to the south and has already a north arrow and a scale (in Harzer Lachter; 1 HL = ca. 2 m). There is a plan view and four longitudinal sections of certain parts of the cave. The letters refer to the individual flowstone formations shown to the visitor (For details see Kempe et al., 2004. (Original: collection Kempe).

Figure 5. The map of the Baumanns Cave re-printed in Leibniz Protogaea, published 1749. (After the translation of the Protogaea by Engelhardt, 1949).

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Figure 7. Etching of an abraded molar, most probably of a cave bear. It was identified as a tooth of a horse by Kundmann (1737: Taf. 2, item 1). (Original: Universitts- and Landesbibliothek, Darmstadt).

Figure 6. The copperplate No. 2 from Kundmanns curiosity opus, published in 1737, depicting fossil bones. The ones in the right corners were the bones he had, as a young person, collected himself in the Baumanns Cave, second section; they are depicted at a scale 1:1. (Original: Universitts- and Landesbibliothek, Darmstadt).

Figure 8. Etching of the last molar in a left lower jaw of the cave hyena. It was identified as the jaw of a calf by Kundmann (1737: Taf. 2, item 2). (Original: Universitts- and Landesbibliothek, Darmstadt).

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In the early 18th century three more reports of the cave were published, those of Behrens (1703), Hellwig (1702) and Von Der Hardt (1702). Behrens account does not relate much more information about the cave than the Eckstorm-text, and Hellwig copied the Olearius-report, but Von Der Hardt published the first map and longitudinal sections of the cave based on a rough survey (fig. 4). His Latin report appeared in the Acta Eruditorum, the most influential scientific magazine of the time. It contained for the first time a detailed description of all the formations (cross-referenced with the map) usually shown to the visitors by guides (Reinboth, 1986; Kempe et al., 2004). It also established the division of the cave into five (later enlarged to six) sections, a practice followed by all the later authors. A copy of this map was reproduced by Leibniz (1749) (fig. 5) and Linn (1779). In 1708, Johann Christian Kundmann (1684-1751) visited the cave and retrieved several pieces of bone. Kundmann was a physician and a collector of - among other things - natural curiosities. His visit is described and the bones are depicted in the catalogue of his cabinet of natural curiosities: Naturae et Artis item in Re Medica, oder Seltenheiten der Natur und Kunst des Kundmannischen Naturalien-Kabinets wie auch in der Arzeney-Wissenschafft published in 1737 (fig. 6). Kundmann, however, was not able to correctly determine which animals these bones belong to. One of the pictures shows (most probably) a cave bear tooth (fig. 7), while the other depicts a fragment of the lower jaw of a hyena (fig. 8). This picture is most probably the earliest of a cave hyena bone. Cuvier (first in 1805) correctly attributed it to a large hyena. Goldfuss also referred to the Kundmann picture when discussing fossil hyena bones in 1810 and when he established the cave hyena as a separate species in 1823 as Hyna spelaea (now Crocuta crocuta spelaea). The last one to describe the bones from the Baumanns Cave without clearly recognizing which animal they belonged to was the physician Johann Friedrich Zckert (1763) (Kempe, 1999; 2000; Kempe et al., 1999). Shortly after the extinct bear species was established as Ursus spelaeus by Rosenmller, 1794. The steps which led to this benchmark in early Paleontology have been illustrated in detail by Kempe et al. (2005).

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Baumanns-Hhle und Brockels-Berge zu sehen.Leipzig, Friedrich Groschuff, Baumanns Cave p. 92-103. HORST, J.W., 1656. Observatorium Anatomicarum Decas I.- Frankfurt, W. Serlinus & G. Fickwirth, 34pp. (Baumanns Cave p. 10). KEMPE, S., 1999. The historical importance of the Baumannshhle/Harz Illustrated by the report of Zckert (1763).- Abstract, NSS Convention 1999, geo2 session. And: J. Cave Karst Stud. Nat. Speleolo. Soc. 62 (April 2000) (1): 37. Also in: The Journal of Spelean History, 33(1): 19, Abstracts of the papers presented at the History Session 1999 NSS Convention in Filer, Idaho. KEMPE, S., 2000. Neues zum Nachruf auf Zckert, den frhen Erforscher der Baumannshhle.- Mitt. Arbeitsgem. Karstkde. Harz, 2000(2+3): 3. KEMPE, S., 2004. Der Bericht von Dr. Johann Christian Kundmann ber seine Befahrung der Baumannshhle Anno 1708.- Mitt. Verb. dt. Hhlen- u. Karstforscher, 50(3): 82-89. KEMPE, S. & REINBOTH, F., 2001. Die beiden MerianTexte von 1650 und 1654 zur Baumannshhle und die dazugehrigen Abbildungen.- Die Hhle 52(2): 33-45. KEMPE, S., FRICKE, U., KLEINSCHMIDT, A., & REINBOTH, F., 1999. Die Baumannshhle, Harz, ihre Bedeutung fr die frhe Wissenschaftsgeschichte, ihre Darstellung durch Johann Friedrich Zckert, der Arzneygelahrtheit Doctor, 1763, und was heute noch davon zu sehen ist.- Abhandlungen Verb. dt. Hhlenu. Karstforsch. Reihe A-F (31): 55 pp + XXVI S. KEMPE, S., DUNSCH, B., FETKENHEUER, K., NAUMANN, G. & REINBOTH, F., 2004. Die Baumannshhle bei Rbeland/Harz im Spiegel der wissenschaftlichen Literatur vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert: Lateinische Quellentexte.- Braunschweiger Naturkundliche Schriften, 1 (7): 171-215. KEMPE, S., ROSENDAHL, W. & DPPES, D., 2005. The making of the cave bear.- Die wissenschaftliche Entdeckung des Ursus spelaeus.- Festschrift G. Rabeder, Mitt. Komm. Quartrforsch. sterr. Akad. Wiss., 14: 57-73. KIRCHER, A., 1665. Mundus Subterraneus, XII Libros digestus Divinum Subterrestris Mundi Opificium, mira Ergasteriorum Naturae in eo distributio, verbo pantamorphon Protei Regnum, Universae denique Naturae Majestas & divitae summa rerum varietate exponuntur. Abditorum effectuum causae acri indagine inquisitae demonstrantur; cognitae per Artis &

Naturae conjugium ad humanae vitae necessarium usum vario experimentorum apparatu, necnon novo modo, & ratione applicantur.- J. Janssonium & E. Weyerstraten, Amsterdam, 1. Teil 346 pp., 2. Teil 487 pp. (Baumanns Cave p. 62). KUNDMANN, J. C., 1737. Rariora Naturae et Artis item in Re Medica, oder Seltenheiten der Natur und Kunst des Kundmannischen Naturalien-Kabinets wie auch in der Arzeney-Wissenschafft.- Michael Hubert, Brelau u. Leipzig. 368+312 Spalten, + 18 pp Index, Folio. (Beschreibung der Baumannshhle wie sie Kundmann am Himmelfahrtstage im J. 1708 fand; Sp. 43-44, 110-118). LACHMUND, F., 1669. Oryktographia Hildesheimensis sive admirandorum fossilium quae in tractu Hildesheimensi reperiuntur, Descriptio Iconibus Illustrata, Cui addita sunt alia de calculies, de fontibus &c. D. Friderico Lachmund, Hildesh. Patriae h.t. Pratico.Hildesheimii, Sumptibus AUTORIS, Typis viduae JACOBI MLLERI, Anno M.D.C.LXIX. 1669, 12+80 pp. +5 pp. Index. (Baumanns Cave pp. 62-66). LEIBNIZ, G. W., 1749. Protogaea.- Goettingae (Descriptio antri Baumanniani, pp. 67-69). Deutsche bersetzung durch W. v. ENGELHARDT, 1949, W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, 182 pp. LETZNER, J., 1599. Braunschweig-Lneburgische Chronica.- Niederschs. Landesbibliothek Hannover, Ms XXIII 227b. Herzog-August-Bibl. Wolfenbttel, Cod. Guelf. 48 Extrav, Cod. Guelf. 50 Extrav. LINN, C. V., 1779. Vollstndiges Natursystem des Mineralreichs; nach der 12. lat. Ausgabe in einer freyen und vermehrten Uebersetzung von J. F. Gmelin.Nrnberg, Gabriel Nicolaus Raspe. (Baumanns Cave: 4. Bd., p. 226 and Fig. p. 397). MATTHESIUS, J., 1564. Sarepta oder Bergpostill, Sampt der Jochimssthalischen kurtzen Chronicken. Auff ein newes mit fleiss besehen/ Corrigirt unnd gebessert/mit einem Register der sprch/so auss altem und newem Testament hierin erkleret sind durch Johann Mathesium selber, Psalm CXLVIII; Berg und Thal lobet den HERRN.- Ulrich Newher und Johann vom Bergs Erben, Nrnberg: 332+56pp. Faksimile in 2 Vol., Nat. Techn. Mus. Prag, 1975. MATTHESIUS, J., 1571. Sarepta Darinn von allerley Bergwerk und Metallen.- Nrnberg, Gerlatz. MERIAN, M. (ed.), 1650. M.[artini] Z.[eilleri] Topographia Superioris Saxoniae, Thringiae, Misnae, Lusatiae etc. Das ist: Beschreibung der Vornehmbsten und Bekantesten Sttt, und Pltz, in Churfrstenthum Sachsen, Thringen, Meissen, Ober und Nider-Lau-

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nitz und einverleibten Landen; auch in andern zu dem Hochlblichsten Schsischen Craie gehrigen Frstentumen (auer Brandenburg und Pommeren), Graff: und Herrschaften etc..- M. Merian, Frankfurt: 210 + 13 pp. (Baumanns Cave pp. 173-177 under Stolberg). (Faksimile edition 1964; Brenreiter-Verlag, Kassel and Basel, Nachwort by L. H. Wthrich 10 pp.) MERIAN, M. (ed.), 1654. Topographia und Eigentliche Beschreibung der Vornembsten Stte, Schlsser auch anderer Pltze und rter in denen Herzogthmern Braunschweig und Lneburg, und denen dazu gehrenden Grafschafften und Landen.- Frankfurt bey M. Merians S. Erben, 230 + 16 pp. (Baumanns Cave pp. 31-33, 63). (Faksimile edition 1961; Brenreiter-Verlag, Kassel and Basel). PRAETORIUS, M. J., 1669. Ausfhrlicher Geographischer Bericht von den hohen trefflich alt- und berhmten Blocks-Berge ... nebst einen Appendice ... der Baumans Hle am Hartz.- Leipzig, Johann Scheiben und Franckfurth am Myn bey Friedrich Arnsten. (Baumanns Cave: Appendix pp. 20-25). REINBOTH, F., 1982. Beispiele alter Hhlenplne aus dem Harz.- Mitt. Verb. dt. Hhlen- u. Karstforscher, 28: 13-16.

REINBOTH, F., 1986. ber die Herkunft des 1702 verffentlichten Planes der Baumannshhle im Harz.- Die Hhle, 37: 172-173. ROSENMLLER, J. C., 1794. Quaedam de ossibus fossilibus animalis cuiusdam, historiam eius et cognitionem accuratiorem illustrantia, dissertatio, quam d. 22. Octob. 1794 ad disputandum proposuit Ioannes Christ. Rosenmller Heberga-Francus, LL.AA.M. in Theatro anatomico Lipsiensi Prosector assumto socio Io. Chr. Aug. Heinroth Lips. Med. Stud. Cum tabula aenea.- 34 p.p., 1 copperpl.; Leipzig. SHAW, T.R., 1992. History of Cave Science, the Exploration and Study of Limestone Caves, to 1900.- 2nd ed., Sydney Speleological Soc., Broadway, New South Wales, Australia, 338 pp. STOLBERG, F., 1930. Ein alter Plan der Baumannshhle aus dem Jahre 1701.- Der Harz, 1930: 136-137; Magdeburg. ZCKERT, J.F., 1763. Die Naturgeschichte einiger Provinzen des Unterharzes nebst einem Anhange von den Mannsfeldischen Kupferschiefern.- Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin, 212 pp.